


Don't Leave Me Alone

by Ravioli_Gone_Rogue



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity Blight Needs a Hug, Boarding School Beta AU, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gay Disaster Amity Blight, Hurt/Comfort, Lumity, Luz learns magic fast, Mutual Pining, Sarcastic Luz Noceda, Semi-Slow Burn, They deny it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-27 12:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30122952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravioli_Gone_Rogue/pseuds/Ravioli_Gone_Rogue
Summary: Luz has always been an outsider, so when Eda offers to get her into a good school it seems like a great opportunity. Eda forgot to mention that it was a magic school. Luz catches on quickly and hijinks ensues.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne/Camilla
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea just kind of came to me at one point, and I decided to roll with it. This is the first fic that I'm actually posting, so any and all feedback is much appreciated. It will probably go for around 10 chapters, but it might go a little longer.

Luz had never fit in. Even as a little kid she always had too much going on in her head. Too creative or too eccentric or even too energetic. Those were common from teachers. Some even went so far as to call her crazy. She never actually did anything to warrant that, but weird things did tend to happen near her. Like, the snakes weren’t entirely her fault, right? 

Regardless, she bounced from school to school, always getting kicked out after a year or two. She never made any friends, despite her best efforts, and she always seemed to somehow get on the wrong side of the popular kids. She always hid that from her mom. She didn’t need to worry over something so small. 

She didn’t know how she ended up meeting Eda. It just seemed like one day she showed up and decided to stick around. In reality, it was a little bit different, but not by much. It was around the time when Luz was 14 and about to go to summer camp that she ran into Eda. The large mane of white and grey hair kind of set her apart from the rest of the people in town. She was tall and lanky, and seemed to always have something owl related on her person. Whether it was the walking stick that sometimes seemed to be missing the owl on top to occasionally seeming like she was sprouting feathers, from day one she had screamed “Owl”.

Ever since they met Eda had been helping her learn the ways of street life. She taught her how to pick locks, pickpocket, fight, how to avoid the authorities, and how to recognize who not to mess with. It seemed that Eda had an endless supply of knowledge in reference to not living lawfully. For some reason, Camilla didn’t seem to mind that her daughter was learning all of this. All in all, she seemed happy whenever Eda came around. She denied vehemently that this reaction had anything to do with the fact that she liked Eda, but Luz saw the glances that passed between them. 

She knew that things had never been the same since her father left, but she didn’t remember him well enough to really care that he was gone. She was only 2 when he left. It had meant that her mom had to work extra shifts at the hospital, which wasn’t ideal, but they had managed to live comfortably. After a year of Eda teaching her, Eda had moved in. It may have helped that Eda had not only managed to get her into a prestigious and remote school on a full scholarship, but had also managed to help Luz switch there before 11th grade started. 

That summer was a rush of excitement for Luz. Somehow, Eda had neglected to mention that it was a school for Magic and Demonics. She somehow only mentioned that 2 weeks before they had to go up to the school. Little things like that just seemed to slip her mind. When Luz found out, she was understandably a little bit freaked out. 

There were a few causes for this panic. One: magic was apparently real, and so were demons. Two: she was going to the prestigious Hexside School of Magic and Demonics and she didn’t know any magic. Third:  **MAGIC WAS REAL** . Yeah, that last one really gave her the jitters. It did explain why the owl on Eda’s walking stick seemed to just up and leave sometimes. And why Eda’s “dog” talked. Yeah, that should have been a dead giveaway but somehow she didn’t notice. 

Regardless, convincing her mom had been actually relatively easy. The only small problem was that Hexside was a boarding school, but Eda’s recommendation and confidence that Luz would have a full scholarship was enough. She said something about knowing someone high up there, and that Luz would be covered all the way through. That was enough for her mom. There was apparently some condition about not causing trouble, but that shouldn’t be a problem. She didn’t cause trouble, she just got caught up in it. 

So when Eda told her to pack her metal baseball bat it came as a bit of a surprise. 

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to get in trouble.”

“Yeah, well, you know as well as I do that trouble finds you sometimes, so you might as well be prepared.”

She didn’t mind, of course. She probably would have taken the bat with her anyway. But it still seemed strange that Eda wanted her to specifically bring the one bat that had gotten her in the most trouble. That bat had clonked a good few heads when needed. She never went looking for a fight, but if someone tried to fight her they had damn well be prepared to get hurt. She had won her fair share of fights, though that somehow never made it back to Camilla. Eda found out about most of them, but even she knew that telling Camilla would be a death wish. 

In the course of her packing she found a few old things that she was happy to bring with her; her old red beanie, her long green bomber jacket with the bi flag sewn into the inside of the left breast, and last but not least, her good art supplies. She had lost them ages ago and was more than happy to find that they were still in good condition. The packing didn’t take long after that, seeing as she didn’t have too many different clothes. She had her ‘look’, and she stuck to it. 

Getting to school would be relatively easy. She just had to wait for her mom to head to work and then she and Eda could take Owlbert. They told Camilla that they were going by train. It didn’t feel good to lie to her, but how do you tell your mom that you’re flying on a staff to a school for magic and demonics. You just kind of don’t. 

The days before Luz’s departure were sad but hopeful for her. She had always had an overactive imagination and had always loved the idea of being a witch. Now that dream was finally coming true. The morning went smoothly with only a few tears from her mom. 

“Take care of yourself and don’t get into trouble.”   


“Moooooooom.”

“I’m serious. I know you don’t look for trouble, but it finds you. Just please be careful. Te quiero, mija. ”

“Te quiero, Mami.”

And with a hug and a kiss on the head, Camilla was off. That meant Luz and Eda needed to get going, and fast. The flight was not a short one and it was better to not be late for their meeting with the headmaster. 

As they sped up the coast and towards the mountains, the terrain became more and more rugged beneath them. Slowly, the towns began to disappear, and then they began to reappear, but they looked a little bit different. The differences were subtle, but noticeable. Firstly, most of the buildings had moving eyes on them. That was quite surprising for Luz, despite the fact that Eda had told her what to expect. The school itself was near a town called Bonesborough, and apparently it was one of the largest towns in the area. Not that she would see much of it once school started. 

Before she could actually get herself settled they had to have a meeting with the Headmaster, Hieronymus Bump. He was an old witch, with a small, red demon resting on his head. Even Eda didn’t know why he had it. He was supposedly an incredibly powerful witch, but with how Eda treated him he may as well have not had magic at all. 

“Heya, Bumpikins.”

“Ms. Clawthorne,” he replied with a nod, “Have a seat. And I assume that this is the Miss Noceda that you spoke of?” he said, gesturing to Luz. 

“Well, seeing as there isn’t anyone else with me that would be a yes, old Bumpy.”

“In that case, you should sit down as well, Miss Noceda,” he said as he summoned another chair. 

“As you should both know, a Human learning magic is rather unprecedented. Thanks to Edalyn’s convincing that you are a hardworking student, you will be allowed to learn here, on the condition that you do not cause trouble. You will be required to find your own way to do magic, since you cannot naturally cast, be it knowing the theory and asking others to cast in your stead, or something else. You will still be expected to perform to a high standard and you will be expected to be…”

He didn’t get to finish that sentence due to an incredibly loud scream coming from the next hall over. 

“Please stay here while I deal with the situation,” Bump said as he rushed out of his office. 

Eda sighed, placing her feet up on his desk. “Well kid, what do you think?”

“Well, besides the fact that I have no idea what the hell I’m doing here, fine. Do you have any idea how I’m supposed to do magic Eda? I need something. You know I don’t make friends.”

“Look kid. Witches aren’t as dimwitted as humans. They’ll see you for the person you are and accept you for it. Trust me, there are at least a few kids who you’ll end up friends with. Also, I have no clue how in the world you are going to do magic. You’ll figure it out, kid. You always do.”

With that, Eda stepped into the hallway, only to duck back in again as a ball of flaming goop went flying past her. 

“On second thought, I think I’ll stay here. I think you might get a laugh out of this if I could find it,” she finished, half to herself as she started rummaging through Headmaster Bump’s filing cabinets. 

“Ah, yes. My permanent record,” she sighed, pulling out a 3 foot tall stack of papers. “Yeah, I didn’t really go for the whole ‘follow the rules’ thing back in my time here. I also blew up way too many toilets. That got me in some serious trouble. Who knew that old Bumpikins was such a grouch sometimes,” and at that she started ruffling through the papers, showing random pictures of large amounts of destruction, and all of them seemed to be caused by one Miss Edalyn Clawythorne. 

“Um, Eda? Did you even graduate with how much trouble you caused?”

“Of course not, kid. I hated school, mostly because I was forced to do stupid potions. It’s not like I hated it, I just preferred other things. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the choice and instead was forced to use trouble as a way to do other things. Anywho, your mom and I both expect you to make it all the way through, and I’ll make sure any report cards going home look normal, kapish?”

“Ok,” Luz replied, clearly intimidated by the new expectations placed upon her. 

“Don’t worry kid, you’ll do fine,” Eda said in a reassuring tone. 

With that, Bump bustled back into the room, and quickly settled behind his desk. 

“Apologies for the interruption, there was a slight disturbance. One of our head students, Miss Amity Blight, had a bit of an altercation with Mattholomule,” he shuddered as he spoke the name. Clearly Mattholomule was a bit of a problem child. “Regardless, his burns shouldn’t last too long, though I can’t say he doesn’t deserve them. He always has been a pesky brat, and Amity Blight has not only very influential parents, but an incredibly strong record to go along with. Ah, yes. Back to the matter at hand. Edalyn, you will need to fill out a few more things, liability waiver’s and so forth, now that Miss Noceda is here, but otherwise she should be free to go. You will be shown to the dormitory to get settled, though the term doesn’t start for a few more days, so if you want to head off campus, make sure you are back before the feast in 3 nights.”

“All right, kiddo. You can crash for a night at my place and I can show you the town. I’ll make sure she’s back in time, Bumpikins, all right?”

“Very well, Edalyn. I trust that you will take care of the forms before next Monday and that you will take good care of your student.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything. Come one kid.” 

Eda started to leave, only to see that Luz was staring, transfixed, at a picture on the wall. The picture just happened to be a picture of one of Eda’s more dastardly pranks, that had left a good many people scarred, mentally and physically. 

“All right kid. Let’s get out of here,” she said, dragging the transfixed Luz behind her. 

Luz finally realized they were no longer in the office, and one of the things Eda said sunk in. 

“Wait, you have a house Eda? Why didn’t you mention that. You’ve been in town with us for like 2 years.”

“Well, when I said house, that was a bit of an overstatement. I do have a place called the Owl House, but it’s my cafe.”

“But how did you keep it open while you were with us for 2 years?” said a confused Luz. 

“You know I can do magic, right kid?”

As if to prove her point, Luz noticed 4 people in dark cloaks following them. 

“Uh, Eda? Should we be concerned about them?” she said low enough that only Eda could hear her. 

“Probably. Here, watch this,” she said, spinning around with a fire in her eyes. 

And her hands. Luz wasn’t sure which startled her more. The people following them seemed a little bit unsure, but it was too late for them. A large fireball expanded in Eda’s hand, and suddenly there was a flash of fire and the four, now cloakless, men ran, one literally with his tail between his legs.

“Hah, that’ll teach them to never stalk me again,” said an exuberant Eda, “So much for getting through town unnoticed. Well, anyway, follow me.”

They made their way through town quickly and without any further interruptions, and as they neared the center of town, Luz finally saw it. The Owl House in all of its glory. Or lack thereof, depending on who you ask. It was a relatively small cafe, but it looked incredibly cozy, and Luz could already see what looked like students, probably from Hexside, sitting at a table drinking something with eyeballs in it. She was going to gloss over that last part. 

“Hey Kid, you go meet my best customers. I’m going to go check on Hooty and my barista. Have fun kid,” she says, gesturing to the two Hexside students. 

There were two Hexside students at the table, but as she walked over one of them got up and went to refill his drink. The girl at the table was about Luz’s age, was wearing large spectacles and had what looked like multiple living flowers growing out of her hair. 

“Hope I’m not interrupting,” she said, pulling up a chair, “Eda told me to come sit with you and get to know some people.”

The girl looked up, saw that Luz’s ears were round, and started laughing. It wasn’t a mean laugh, it was actually a rather pleasant one, but it took Luz by surprise. She started to back away, a hurt expression on her face before the girl grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the chair, a soft expression on her face. 

“Sorry, just my friend who is up getting a drink will lose it when he sees you,” she said, smiling lightly.

“And why is that,” Luz replied, a scowl on her face.

“Because he is obsessed with humans and has been trying to learn everything about them for like the past 4 years. I’m Willow, by the way, and he’s the kid over. His name is Augustus, but he just goes by Gus. He should be back in just a minute.”

“Why would he be so obsessed with humans?” Luz asked, the scowl still not leaving her face. 

“You might be used to it, but how would you react if you saw a witch walking down the street?”

The look on Luz’s face answered the question perfectly. A scream behind Luz startled both of them, and they whipped around only to find Gus staring at Luz’s ears in amazement. The look on his young face was one of pure wonder. Luz was worried that he might explode if his stare wasn’t broken, so she took a chance.

“Hiya, Gus,” she said, pointing finger guns at him.

“Oh. My. God. She knows my name. A human knows my name. I know a human.” 

With that, Willow grabbed him, forced him into a chair, and started explaining. Luz was already losing the conversation because of all the interesting things around her, when a snapping in front of her face made her start. 

“Ah. Sorry, got distracted.”

“It’s all right, Luz,” replied Willow, “ we were just wondering how you ended up in Bonesborough?” 

“Well, I met Eda around 2 years ago, and she just kind of stuck around. My mom swears that there is nothing between them, but based on the looks they give each other I know that that’s a load of bullshit. Eda somehow managed to get me into Hexside, despite me not knowing magic existed 2 weeks ago, so that’s cool, and after talking to Headmaster Bump this morning he said I could stay with Eda until term started. Incidentally, while we were there I heard something about some kid named Blight almost murdering Mattholomule.”

Their looks showed that this was not a rare occurrence. After her explanation, they spent the rest of the afternoon sharing things about life and getting to know each other. Later that evening, Eda showed Luz to a smallish room above the Owl House. 

“Well kid, what did I say? You’ll fit right in.”

“You know, you might not be wrong about that,” Luz replied, before heading to her room and cutting the lights. 

* * *

  
  


If Luz was a ball of sunshine, then Amity was the dark side of the moon, at least outwardly. She was used to everyone being afraid of her, which was fair because she was better than everyone at magic and her family was incredibly powerful. The Blight name commanded a lot of respect. She tended to distance herself from the name when she was at school, but it never left her completely. 

Everyone knew that the girl with a veritable mane of mint green hair was Amity Blight, and that if you fucked with her you died, or at least got seriously injured. That was that. Everyone knew and respected the fact that messing with Amity Blight was a death wish. Everyone that is, except Mattholomule. That little shit decided to mess with her all the time. Well, that meant death for him. 

Apparently rules didn’t apply to him. So she had to go out of her way and waste her time to teach him. Preferably with a lasting scar or two to make sure he learns his lesson once and for all. So that was why she found herself sending a flaming abomination head down the hallway towards him 3 days before the start of term. 

His screams did help the whole situation. Flaming abomination goo tended to stick, and was rather painful. It almost made her sad when Headmaster Bump had to break it up, but it was better that she didn’t kill him. Then her parents would know and all hell would break loose. 

So, overall it was better that she didn’t absolutely wipe the floor with his sorry ass. It didn’t make her feel at all bad about the full body burns he had now. No, those made her quite happy. After Bump left, she made her way back to her dormitory. She didn’t have the willpower to deal with people right now, and keeping up the ‘tough’ from took energy which she didn’t have at the moment. 

So instead, she closed the door and slid down it. She could feel the sweat flowing down her forehead but she didn’t care. She just wanted to go to sleep, but she knew she needed to clean up in case someone saw her. So she sighed, and made her way to the bathroom. She saw herself in the mirror and scowled at herself. Apparently beating up Matt took more energy than she thought. With a sigh, she turned on the water and got ready to take a shower. 

One relaxing shower later she decided she was done for the day and crashed on her bed, not caring that it was barely even 3:30. She pulled the drapes around her and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately for her, her mind wasn’t going down without a fight. She tried to stop remembering, but the memories just seemed to flow in: Her mom forcing to dye her hair, her parents forcing her to break away from her friend Willow, her siblings leaving her all alone at home. The thoughts wouldn’t stop. She was trapped in her own mind.

A loud noise broke her from her thoughts, and she quickly did an illusion spell to clean up her tears. She couldn’t be seen as anything less than perfect. That would break the strong facade she had worked so hard to keep up. Even though she knew no one could have seen the tears anyway, they still had to go. Still, the spell did nothing to stop the flow of memories, though the loud noise distracted her from them for a few moments. 

But they came back: the entirety of the year before, and how terrible dating Boscha had been, and how somehow the years before that when she had been all alone were better, and how clingy Boscha had been, and how… and before she knew it she had started to spiral. 

Luckily, the sound of someone dropping something on their foot, and the resulting string of swears, was enough to break her from her memories. She didn’t want to relive them any more than she had to, and she wasn’t off to a good start. She sighed, and picked herself up off of her bed. Once she heard the other girl leave, she dropped the illusion and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. A quick couple of spells and some cold water was enough to put her into a presentable state. 

She decided that a short walk through the grounds would help. It always did. Even when she was little and still living at Blight Manor, a walk through the woods would always calm her down. She knew the Hexside grounds like the back of her hand, so walking them while thinking would be easy. Except it seemed that the world had decided to spite her today. Before she could even make it to the forest, she heard a loud screech from the stables and the sound of breaking wood.  _ Great,  _ she thought to herself _ , how else can this day go wrong? _ She decided that that was not a good question to ask, and started walking faster. 

Unfortunately, walking faster was not enough to get away from the griffin that had decided that her mane of minty green hair looked like food. She knew she would get in trouble if she actually hurt the griffin since it was used in classes, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to. Still, she turned to face it only to see a girl with brown hair and a fish hook earring chasing after it. She vaguely recognized the girl, and had some vague recollection of her sister dating her, but she couldn’t remember the girl’s name. 

“Hey Puddles!” the girl yelled, “Get back over here!”

Before Amity had a chance to react, Puddles grabbed her around the midsection and started to fly away. 

“Puddles, come on. Land and put her down!” yelled the girl from below.

Puddles apparently didn’t care about the order and dropped Amity from around 30 feet up. Luckily witches are built better than humans, but she was still out cold. This school year was going to suck. And she didn’t even know the half of it yet. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the comments and kudos.

The next few days sped by as Luz got to learn a lot about Bonesbourough and her new friends. She quickly realized that she was going to need to learn how to do magic, and that she had no leads. Eda said she would look around for her, but couldn’t promise anything. 

The last morning before she had to go back to Hexside she was eating breakfast in the cafe only to be startled by a 12 inch thick book landing on the table in front of her, spilling her food all over the floor. 

“Eda, is there a reason you spilled my breakfast everywhere?”

“You should thank me. This book should give you a way to do magic. It’s a little different, but it’ll do the trick,” she said, patting the book, “This puppy’s got all you need on glyphs. And before you ask, yes they work, no I won’t show you, and you can’t start reading yet. You need to get to school to get ready for the feast.”

“But, but…”

Eda cut her off before she could finish. “No buts. Get to school. If you have extra time, meet up with Willow and keep her there so that you don’t hurt yourself. That kid has a good head on her shoulders. Now, get out of here. I expect you to not cause as much trouble as me. Some is good, but not too much, ya’ hear me kid?”

“Yes Eda. Thanks for the book.”

And with that Eda shooed her out of the Owl House and off towards Hexside. She contemplated getting the book out of her bag, but decided against it. Best to keep her head clear for the day ahead. She managed to find Willow near the front of the school, and Willow showed her to the dormitories. 

“Well, here we are. You need help with anything else or do you want to get settled in?”

“Actually, I do need your help. Eda managed to find a way for me to do magic, but she wants you to supervise so I don’t, and I quote “hurt myself”.”

“Luz, based on your stories that’s probably for the better. If the backup snakes are anything to go off of, you should probably be supervised.” 

“They weren’t my fault!” she exclaimed, “Someone let them out. How was I supposed to know that they didn’t like people?”

Willow just laughed. “Well, where do you want to go?”

“Is there anywhere near enough to the healers but far enough from any other teachers that we won’t get caught? Also, before we go, I think we need a lot of paper. From the glimpses of the book I managed to catch, paper is important.”

“Well, I know where we can get a whole lot of paper, and I think I know just the place to try it out,” she said with a smirk. 

After grabbing the book and a large pad of paper, they made their way outside. Following Willow, Luz let out a gasp as she saw a large structure towering ahead of them. There were lots of squawks and squeaks coming from within. It was a huge building, though most of the walls were open. There was an awful smell coming from within that seemed like a mixture between manure and dead things. The smell only seemed to get worse the closer they got and the air became filled with feathers. 

“What do they keep in here?” Luz choked out through a mouthful of feathers.

“Griffins,” replied Willow. “We shouldn’t be bothered while we’re in here. Normally only beast keeping students come in here. I know a few people in the track, and they showed me around one time. Also gave me a key.”

By that point they had gotten to the gate at the front, and Willow quickly pulled a key from the front of her dress. She unlocked the door and ushered Luz inside, before locking it behind them. She quickly motioned for Luz to follow her as she made her way to the back of the stable. 

“Alright, crack open that book,” Willow said with a grin.

Luz opened the book, and immediately she saw circles with lines in them. The book called them glyphs. She had always been good at drawing, so she quickly sketched a few of the simpler ones. She looked ahead in the book and it said to tap them to activate, so she did. Immediately, the first one turned into a ball of light, the second one into a pillar of ice, and the third into a plant. She quickly drew up the last one on the first page and it became a fireball. 

Already she could tell that the lines mattered. Some quick experiments showed that changing a line here and there could cause drastic changes. One small line made the fireball blue, or made the ice a spike instead of a column. She knew she had a lot of testing to do, but the initial results were positive. 

A cough from Willow told her that she had been lost in thought for a bit longer than she had intended. Looking up, she saw that the sun had moved past noon and realized that she needed to get moving. 

“Well, thanks for making sure I didn’t explode or something,” Luz said with a grin as they walked back to the school. 

“My pleasure. Just ask if you need help with anything,” replied Willow. “I have to go and help get a few things ready for the feast. See you there!”

Luz slowly made her way back to the dormitory, taking in the sights along the way. She took note of where the different wings of the school were, and slowly built her mental map of the school. It would be best not to get lost when trying to find her classes tomorrow. She managed to find the plant wing, the abominations wing, and potions wing. She would have to find the illusions and oracle wings some other time. 

By the time she made it back to the dormitory, it was almost time for the feast, so she changed into something presentable and grabbed a few of her new glyphs, just in case. You never know what’s going to happen at a feast. She made her way towards the hall, and as she got closer she started to notice more and more people. 

The hallways began to fill and she heard a loud commotion from up ahead. Seems that somebody had gotten a little bit angry. 

“Get your ass out of the way!” a loud female voice roared.

“And what if I don’t?” replied a male voice.

The answer was provided for him when a large pink flame erupted in the middle of the hallway, reminiscent of the flaming head from her meeting with the headmaster. Seems like Blight lost her temper again. The people started to form a circle and Luz got her first look at Amity Blight. She was a little bit shorter than Luz was, but the first thing she saw was the mane of hair. 

Mane wasn’t an exaggeration. It would have fit on a lion had it not been green. Then she noticed the person getting attacked. He was a short, snivelling boy whose face looked like a pineapple skin went through a blender. Either that or he just had severe burns. 

Based on the scene unfolding in front of her she figured it was the latter. The crowd began to back up as Amity raised an abomination as tall as the corridor, which promptly set on fire and bear-hugged the boy. She figured that it was Mattholomule, seeing as no one was going to help him. His screams were not loud enough to attract a teacher, but they were not very quiet. Amity seemed quite happy to hear the loud screams emanating from the pile of flaming abomination goo. 

Eventually everyone started moving past the burning blob; the screams at this point were quite muffled. As people started to file into the hall for the feast, a teacher seemed to notice something wrong and pulled Mattholomule from the flaming pile of goo. He was escorted off to the healers office. 

But Luz didn’t see that. She was lost in wonder at seeing the interior of the feast hall. There were lights everywhere, and along the walls were the banners for the 9 covens. By the head of the feast table there was a large banner with the symbol of the Emperor’s Coven. Under the Emperor’s Coven banner was a table for the teachers. The majority of the room was taken up by 9 large tables, each representing a coven track. Students sat wherever they wanted, but the message was clear. 

Students should prepare for life by picking a track and staying with it. It was an outdated idea, but some students and teachers still tried to enforce it, though without much effort. 

The entire hall was packed with students, but still more were flowing in. Luz couldn’t believe it, she had never seen so many people in one place. She looked for any face that she knew, and saw Willow and Gus at a table nearby. She made a beeline for them, but before she could get there, someone stepped in her way. 

A pink faced, pink haired, three eyed someone. 

“Where do you think you’re going,” sneered Boscha, “How did some sniveling human make it into Hexside.”

Behind her was a gang of three girls. The first was shorter and had silver hair, the second was much taller and had olive colored hair, and the last one was about the same height as the first and had wavy black hair. They seemed to not want to be a part of this conversation but didn’t have much choice. 

“Well? You have a voice? I asked you a question.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were talking. I tend not to listen to animated shit,” responded Luz which elicited a laugh from the first of the cronies. 

“Can it, Skara,” Boscha snapped, “So you think you’re better than me, huh. Well let me remind you that you can’t even do magic. How would you even defend yourself?”

Luz didn’t say anything. She knew this kind of bully. Don’t give them fuel or attention and they eventually give up. But this one was just too much of a bitch, and she had a perfect opportunity. So, instead of talking, she pulled a fire glyph out of her pocket, and pushed past Boscha and her gang, taking a second to place and activate the glyph on the back of Boscha’s shirt. She made her way over to Willow and Gus as she heard the telltale sound of a fire roaring into life behind her. 

“Who shoved a stick up her ass?” Luz asked Willow. 

“Oh, Boscha has always been like that. She’s always been a massive pain,” replied Willow, “I’ve found that it’s easier to avoid her, but she does need to be taken down a few pegs. Seems like this was a start,” she finished with a chuckle as the smell of burning cloth wafted towards them. 

Luz couldn’t help but smirk as she realized that she had broken the one big rule on day one. Don’t cause trouble. Well, so much for that. It was worth it. From what she had seen and heard Boscha would have started things with her anyway, so it was better to get the upper hand. 

Before she could respond to Willow, a loud sound near the front of the room drew everyone’s attention. Headmaster Bump was standing up at the middle of the staff table, holding what appeared to be a magic megaphone. 

“Welcome students. We are truly happy to have you here. Both to old students returning and new students joining, we are glad you are joining us for this year. Now, some updates concerning rules. One: the closet on the left side of the hallway third floor near the abomination wing is off limits. Completely and entirely. Going in will most likely result in death. Secondly, the first weekend you can spend in Bonesborough is in 9 weeks, after your first batch of exams. Finally, all healing track students will be required to take a specific course which will be explained to you tomorrow morning when classes are assigned. Do not complain or be alarmed. Students in other tracks will have related courses later on in the year, only the healing track course is the most pressing. Now, without further ado, I do believe I promised you a feast.”

He clapped his hands and food appeared on trays all around the hall. Luz had never seen most of the foods in front of her, and many of them looked less than appealing. More than a few had a few too many eyeballs looking out at her and it seemed that at least a couple of the dishes were still alive. She wasn’t planning on tackling any of them quite yet. She did see more than a few things that looked familiar, so she started with those and worked from there. 

She had some light conversation with Gus and Willow over dinner, but they were mostly focused on eating. After the feast, the plates were cleared by magic, and Bump rose once more for some final words. 

“Now, one more announcement before you head off to bed. The illusion track will be needed in the healing wing tomorrow morning, regardless of level or age. All students studying illusions in any capacity should be in the healing wing at 10:27 exactly. The purpose will be revealed to you then. Now, off to bed with you all.”

Luz made sure to stick close to Willow as they made their way back to the dormitory, which they apparently shared with the Blight girl and Boscha. What fun. She could already tell that this was going to be a tense dorm room. She decided that the best course of action would be to get into bed as fast as possible so as to avoid Boscha. 

Easier thought than done apparently because as soon as she started towards the bathroom the triclops burst into the room, seething with anger. 

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite shithead,” Luz said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “What brings your sorry excuse for a face into my room?”

“Excuse you, human,” she snarled, voice dripping with venom, “but last I checked I reserved a room without weaklings.”

“Well, I ordered a no smoking room but your shirt seemed to disagree,” Luz said with a smirk. 

It seemed that this was the last straw for Boscha, and she charged Luz, but before she could do anything she was restrained by a tangle of vines. Standing behind her was Willow, a terrifying expression on her face. The vines forced Boscha out of the room and locked the door behind her. 

“Well, that should do the trick,” Willow said with a smirk. 

“Thanks for the save, Willow. I don’t know why she has it out for me though, it’s not like I did anything to her… yet,” Luz said with a frown. 

“Eh, Boscha just is a bitch to everyone. We should be able to keep her locked out for a while though.” 

A knock on the door made them both turn. 

“We won’t let you back in, Boscha. If you don’t stop being a bitch about everything we might not ever,” Luz yelled at the door. 

“If you don’t open the door I will burn it down and kill both of you. I am not in the mood right now,” came a voice from the other side of the door. It wasn’t Boscha’s, so Luz assumed it must be the Blight girl. 

She sighed and turned to Willow, “Well, no point in dying over this. Might as well open the door.”

Willow sighed and opened the door, and what could only be described as a whirlwind of hair came bustling in. The mint green hair flew to the bathroom, and locked the door behind itself. Luz and Willow looked back at the dorm door to see a half dead looking Boscha standing in the doorway. It looked like she had gotten on the wrong side of one of Amity’s fire spells. Before either could say or do anything, she started wandering off towards the healers, a bemused look on her face. 

“We should probably do something about that, but I really don’t want to,” said Luz, glancing at Willow. 

“Out of sight, out of mind,” replied Willow with a chuckle as she closed the door. 

Luz went to start unpacking her stuff and began to look through the book that Eda gave her again. She could already tell that she would need more glyphs, but she didn’t know which ones did what and this was not a good place to test. She would have to wait for the weekend before she could try out more glyphs, which was a shame but expected. She settled into bed and started to read a little bit more of the book. When Amity left the bathroom she quickly showered and changed before going to sleep. She knew she would need her rest in the days to come, especially if her dorm room was going to be a clusterfuck of raised emotions. 

* * *

Amity had had a rough few days. Setting Matt on fire, getting knocked out by a griffin, spending time in the healing wing just to get some rest, lighting Matt on fire again, and lighting Boscha on fire and then hitting her with a confusion spell had led to a hectic few days. She was tired, and school hadn’t even started yet. She had just made Boscha forget what was going on before banging on her dorm room door, only to have to threaten the people within. 

When she finally made it into the room, she bustled across the room and straight to the bathroom. When she got into the bathroom she closed and locked the door, realizing that she only barely managed to make it. She had almost unconsciously stopped in the middle of the room due to a smell. Not a bad smell. A rather attractive smell, actually. It smelled of lemon and earth and it took all of her willpower not to find the source of it. 

She would have to find it later when she was less stressed. The summer had been shorter than normal, and yet it had dragged on and on. Her parents truly were awful. At least she didn’t have to see them until the end of the school year. She was able to convince them early on that she needed to stay at school every break to make sure she got top grades, and they bought it. In reality, she could get top grades doing minimal work, but that wasn’t important for them to know. 

She realized that she had been lost in thought in the bathroom for a while, so she finished washing up and bustled back out to her bed. She lay there for a while thinking. Thinking about how tired she was, thinking about how fucking done she was with her parents and their shit, thinking about how much she wanted to smell that smell again…  _ wait. What was that last one? _ She didn’t know where that came from, but it was definitely new.  _ I don’t have time for something like that right now. _

Before she knew it, the sun had set and all of the remaining light was gone. A little later she heard Boscha stumble back into the room. She heard clanking and swearing from the bathroom and groaned. Boscha had always been incredibly loud and never seemed to care about the time of night. She tried to fall asleep but sleep didn’t want to come. She decided that enough was enough and tried to use a sleep spell on herself, but missed. It went out the window and flew up into the sky. 

Apparently, just to spite her, her being tired meant that she couldn’t make herself sleep. It was just going to be one of those nights. She tried to settle herself into the bed, but unfortunately it wasn’t working. Eventually she drifted off to sleep, but her sleep was riddled with dreams of her parents. 

She woke with a start in the middle of a truly awful memory of her mother forcing her to dye her hair. She had always liked it, but had hated that she had been forced to have to dye it. She liked the green color, it reminded her of her favorite book series. Azura was everything that she was not. Strong, kind, compassionate, caring, and someone who occasionally got in way over her head. When she was a kid she had wished that she was more like Azura, so when her mother had forced her to dye her hair green she rationalized it to herself. She never really thought about how awful it was until years later. 

She had never really questioned her mother. She almost had when she was forced to push Willow away, but even then she knew her mother was a force to be reckoned with. So she was a coward. She did what her mother said and didn’t think for herself. “Good children follow orders” was a favorite catchphrase of the Blight matriarch. 

But this summer had been different. This summer she didn’t want to re-dye her hair. She liked the look that the auburn roots provided. So when her mother ‘suggested’ that she dye her hair again. She refused. 

_ “Amity, dear, I don’t think you understand what you are saying.”  _

_ “I understand just fine, Mother,” Amity spat back, voice dripping with venom, “You like having your trophy child look just like you and slight deviations from the perfection you embody is a sin, right. Well guess what? I don’t give a shit. You think you’re so high and mighty and yet you don’t stop to think about your children. Don’t even bother responding. Nothing you say will change anything. I’ve made up my mind.”  _

_ Before Amity could say anything else, Odalia stepped forward, spinning a spell circle with her finger. From the circle sprouted a pair of hands which tried to grab Amity and force her into a chair, while Odalia herself grabbed the hair dye.  _

_ Luckily for Amity, Odalia had forgotten something. She forgot that she had trained her daughter to be the best of the best. Somehow it had never crossed her mind that her daughter would use those powers against her. But Amity had no qualms about using the weapons her mother used against her.  _

_ So she raised one of her largest abominations and fought off the hands, all while backing her way up the stairs to her room. She let the abomination finish dealing with the hands while she quickly packed. She grabbed everything important to her and put it into her void safe. She normally only housed important things within it, but now she needed to pack for the rest of the year.  _

_ All of her clothes, all of her diaries and books, all of her other personal belongings, it all went in the void. Only she could open the void, and she could open it from anywhere. She had planned well and the void had enough space for most of her stuff. She could feel the abomination weakening, but she knew that she had a few more minutes before her mother would get to her, so she went out the window. She dissolved the fighting abomination and used it to summon a hand beneath her to lower her to the ground. She hit the ground running and didn’t stop until she got to Bonesbourough, a solid 45 minute run away.  _

_ She was still panting after nearly an hour of walking around the town, and it was long after dark. She knew that the owner of a local cafe was her old mentor’s sister, so she had to hope for the best. She slowly made her way through town looking for a place called The Owl House. Eventually, after another 15 minutes she found it. It was mostly empty, except for an employee cleaning up. She walked in, noting the owl-like face of the barista.  _

_ “Is the owner here, I wish to speak to her,” Amity said, trying her best to be polite.  _

_ “Well, she’s out of town but I can call her, Hoot Hoot!” replied the barista.  _

_ He went into the back and she waited for a few minutes, before coming back with an older woman who had a mane of silver hair.  _

_ “What can I do for you, kid?” _

_ “I’m in a bit of a situation.” She didn’t like admitting it but she needed help, so here goes, “I believe your sister used to be my mentor. Does Lilith Clawthorne ring a bell?” She almost stopped at the expression on the woman’s face, but she powered through.  _

_ “Well, she told me a little bit about you, and now you’re the only one I can turn to. My mother and I got into a bit of a shouting match and I ran for it. I’m assuming you know Odalia Blight?” Again, the look the older woman gave almost made her stop, but she kept going regardless.  _

_ “I need somewhere to stay for a few days until term starts. I can pay for a room, just you’re the only person I have any connection with in Bonesbourough who is not likely to tell my mother where I am,” she finished.  _

_ “All right, kid. I think I can free up something. Keep yourself safe. Titan, I remember Odalia from school. No offense but she was a grade A bitch,” Eda said with a smirk.  _

_ “None taken. I fully agree with you.” _

_ “Just so you know, I probably won’t be here most of the time, but if you need anything, Hooty here should be able to help.” _

_ Eda led her up to a room before turning to head back downstairs.  _

_ “Sleep tight, kid.” _

_ “Thank you, Eda.” _

She didn’t know why she remembered that interaction now, but she did, and she particularly remembered the caring look on Eda’s face, one she had never seen from her own mother. She sighed, before flopping back over onto her side, and eventually she drifted off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will take a little bit longer than this one did. As always, I appreciate the comments and kudos.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks once again for all the kudos and comments. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Amity awoke to the sound of someone calling her name and that same smell from the day before. 

“Yo, Blight. Get your ass out of bed if you don’t want to be late for the first day of classes.”

That was the same voice that told Boscha to keep out. It seemed that the voice may be attached to the smell.  _ Well, that was a concerning thought. _ If someone was messing with Boscha before day one then they probably wouldn’t last very long.  _ Wait, why am I worried about them. I haven’t even seen their face. I DON’T CARE IF THEY DIE… right? _ She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of vines growing up around her bed. 

“I’m up,” she yelled, “Yeesh, don’t need to sick the plants on me.”

She slowly got up out of bed and made her way across the room. She closed the bathroom door behind her and looked up into the mirror. The face that stared back at her was exhausted and covered in hair. She quickly doused her head with cold water and then dried it with a fire spell. A few quick spells and her face no longer looked like a warzone between hair and a zombie; in other words she was presentable to her own standards. As she walked out of the bathroom she was greeted by the two other girls in front of her. One was her childhood friend Willow, and the other she didn’t know. 

Which was odd because she knew everyone. Or at least everyone knew her. And this girl didn’t give her a fearful look. She gave one of concern. Amity quickly looked around and found what she was looking for on the girl’s trunk. A name. Luz Noceda. That wasn’t a very witch-like name. It was then that she noticed the ears. So that was why Boscha was being extra yesterday. 

“What do you want, Noceda?”

“Just making sure you were okay. You came out of bed looking like you and your hair had a fight with a slitherbeast,” Luz said with a chuckle. 

“I’m fine, thank you very much. Now, I thought you two didn’t want me to be late,” she finished as she brushed past them. 

_ There was that damned smell again.  _ She couldn’t deny that Luz was quite attractive. But hey, she thought that about Boscha too and look where that landed her.  _ But what about the smell?  _ There was a war going on in her mind, one she was more than eager to have a distraction from, so she rushed off towards the feast hall for breakfast and class assignments. 

A teacher passed her a schedule. She glanced over it and was happy to see that she got the courses she wanted. If there was one thing she did like it was challenging classes.  _ And that smell… SHUT UP BRAIN!!! _ First thing she had was a high level abominations class, followed by a few side abominations classes that were reserved for incredibly advanced students. It was a point of pride for her that she was able to take the classes at all. 

After lunch she had one more high level abominations class and then two new things she was trying this year. Illusions and healing. Her siblings had been prodigies at illusions, in the same way she was innately talented with abominations. They could make anything appear in front of your eyes, and instead of using it for anything useful they pulled pranks. All sorts of pranks. It infuriated her to no end that they used the large amount of power they had for nothing useful. 

But regardless of what they did, if she was going to stay away from her parents she would need to be able to blend in, and healing would also be useful in case something went badly. She had decided that she was not going back home to her mother if she could avoid it. Of course, that would mean she would be on the run from the best bounty hunters money could buy. Not that she was concerned. She knew how to fight and was not about to let some stupid hunters take her back to the hellhole that was her life at Blight Manor. 

She finished her breakfast before going off towards the abomination wing. She knew where it was by heart seeing as she had taken classes there her entire life. Her parents had wanted her to do abominations, but that was one decision she agreed with. She was scarily good at them, all her teachers had said as much. 

She could make them just about any size, she had almost complete control over them, and she could mix them with most of her other spells. The fire one was good for when Matt was being a bit too much to just warrant a fireball. The one other thing she could do with abominations was incredibly rare. She could take control of enemy abominations and use them for herself. That was not something that many people could do. 

She found herself near the classroom she needed to be in, so she made her way over to it. She was still a little bit early, so she decided to find a desk and get settled. She practiced making tiny abominations on her desk. Some of the smallest ones were actually the hardest to control. She had been practicing on making one that was only about the size of a coin, and it was immensely difficult to use. 

Her plan was to use it to steal or spy if she needed it too, but otherwise it was kind of cute. She knew she had a lot of work left to do before she could use small abominations effectively, but she had relative mastery over the giant abominations normally used for combat. Finally, the professor came in and she quickly removed the abomination. He didn’t need to know she was working on something he would want to supervise. 

“Ah, I see you are already here Miss Blight. I have a few things to discuss with you. I noticed that you are taking all of the possible advanced abomination classes. I was wondering if you would like to have private lessons with me after your other classes.”

“That sounds like a good idea, sir. I would be happy to learn some more advanced techniques.”

“Wonderful. Now, one more thing. Your mother has called in to say that they were rescinding your funding due to events over the summer. Now, since you are one of the most promising students to attend this school in a long time, Headmaster Bump was not about to let you go. You see, due to recent situations the school has needed some extra funding for repairs, so tuition is non-refundable. This means that there is suddenly enough money in the system to cover one student, and seeing as you are one of the most promising students in this school, it has been offered to you.”

“Th-thank you, sir. I will gladly accept this scholarship to finish this term. Do you know what I will need to do next term?” she replied, slight lines of worry marking her face.

“Headmaster Bump has said that arrangements could be made. Hopefully you will be able to finish the abominations track with the highest achievements seen in this school in a long time,” he said with a smile, “You may return to your seat. Class will begin shortly.”

“Thank you sir.”

Maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

* * *

Luz sat with Gus and Willow as they waited for their schedules. Willow specialized in plants, and Gus illusions, so their classes were based around those subjects, but Luz didn’t know anything yet. So she had signed up for a little of everything. Her schedule was a convoluted mess, but it would work. She had plants with Willow and Illusions with Gus, so that was good, but the rest of her classes she had no one. 

Her first class was plants, so she and Willow made her way to the plant wing a little early to introduce Luz to the professor. She was an older woman with a kind face but stern eyes, and she greeted them warmly. 

“Ah, I see you are a new student here at Hexside. Welcome. I hope you enjoy your time here, especially in my class,” she said with a smirk. 

“Thank you, ma’am. I hope I enjoy my time here. It would make my mom happy if I didn’t get kicked out after a semester,” she finished, almost under her breath. 

“Don’t worry, you should be fine as long as no one dies. That really is the only reason for someone to get expelled, so you should be in the clear unless you plan on committing murder.”

“That is not on my list of regular activities, so I should be fine. Thanks again,” Luz said, before Willow dragged her off into the greenhouse to meet the plants. 

She was confused about meeting them until one tried to eat her. That made her realize that they were a little bit alive. Like more than normal plants. Like these plants were sentient. Most of them seemed relatively friendly, but some of them still tried to eat her despite Willow’s best efforts. 

The class itself went relatively uneventfully, as did the rest of the day. Until the feast. Of course Boscha wanted to get into it again, and Luz didn’t have the time or energy to exert any effort on her. So there was a simple solution. Get her baseball bat and strap some fire glyphs to it. That would work, wouldn’t it?

She figured it would have to do. So she grabbed her bat and just left it by her when she went back to the hall. It seemed that Boscha was less willing to pick on someone who was armed. Luz sat down with Gus and Willow and they regaled each other with tales of their days. It seemed that the advanced classes were a lot more interesting than the intro level, but also took a lot more work. She was happy with her classes since she still had a lot to learn. 

She split off from Willow and Gus after dinner and went outside to get some fresh air. She hadn’t gotten a chance to explore the grounds, so she decided it was as good a time as any to start. There was a very large forest surrounding the school, which she supposed was full of all sorts of beasts. 

She didn’t hear or see any unusual beasts, though, so she continued through the forest. After nearly an hour the sky had begun to fade to a light pink color as the sun lit up the clouds. It really was a beautiful sight with all the colors of night slowly pouring into the sky. Luz continued her walk back towards the school but stopped when she heard a sound coming from the woods to her right. 

She readied a few glyphs before tapping a light glyph and walking towards the sound, bat raised. As she got closer, the sounds of wanton destruction became louder to the point that it was almost deafening. She peered into a clearing only to quickly duck back behind a tree as a bright pink fireball shot by her. 

The only pink flames she had seen were from Amity, which wasn’t a good sign considering the other thing she saw in the clearing. A large snake-like creature was bearing down on Amity. When she had gotten her first look it seemed like Amity was exhausted. That didn’t bode well. Giant snakes tended to eat people who fell asleep. 

Before she could do anything she heard an ear splitting roar and an accompanying string of swears.  _ Now or never,  _ she thought to herself. She rushed out from behind the tree, bat in hand, and swung at the snake, hitting it with the combined force of the bat and a fire glyph. It screeched and sent a blast of fire towards the sky. 

_ shit Shit SHIT  _ **_SHIT_ **

She and Amity were in a bad situation together. Neither knew what to do. The snake slowly backed them into a corner before sending a fireball at them. Luz managed to activate an ice glyph in time to save them from the worst of the flames, but she could still feel the heat licking at her side. 

“What are you doing here!” Luz yelled to the girl next to her.

“I could ask the same of you! I was just walking when this shit worm attacked me,” replied Amity before summoning an abomination to grab the snake. 

Luz quickly shot around the side and hit it again with the bat, this time using an ice spike glyph. The spike pierced through the snake's body and it let out a gurgling cry as it flopped over dead. 

“Well, that was easy. Remind me why you thought fighting this thing alone was a good idea?” Luz said, turning to Amity.

“Well, let’s see,” Amity snapped, “I was alone in the woods and couldn’t run. I guess I should have just laid down and died.”

“Yeesh. You don’t need to get defensive. Just wondering why you thought you could kill a giant snake all by yourself. Sorry for coming to save you,” Luz said, turning away and walking out of the clearing. 

Amity stayed in the clearing, lost in thought.  _ Why can’t I snap back at her. Why am I staring at her…  _ She stayed in the clearing for a long while. And when she made it back to the school it was nearly 10. She quickly made her way to her dormitory and quietly opened the door, before slipping over to the bathroom. 

She glanced at herself in the mirror, and the sight appalled her. Burns streaked down the sides of her face and there were small cuts all over her arms and legs. She would have to do something about that. She tested one of the new healing spells that she had learned in class, and it worked, clearing up most of the cuts on her arm. 

She sighed and started to patch herself up, only to realize that it was futile. Nobody would see her until tomorrow, and she was too tired to deal with anything now. She quickly changed and hopped into bed, only to hear a crinkle of paper behind her. She flipped over to pull the paper out from under her, but when it brushed against her hand the paper glowed and she felt a wave of calmness pass over herself. 

She looked down at herself and saw that all of her cuts were gone. She put her hands to her face and could tell that there were no burns present. Whatever it was had healed her, and whoever put it there knew she was injured. The only person who knew was Noceda.  _ Why would Noceda help me? She hates me. Why would she care if I got hurt? She doesn’t know me. Why would she care? Why should I care if she cares?  _

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the time. It was well past midnight before she drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were once again plagued by visions of her parents, though this time they seemed to be a bit fainter. Maybe it was the effects of the healing spell, or maybe something else, but she managed to make it through the night without waking up.

She awoke feeling more well rested than she had in years. Whatever that spell did worked well. She felt perfectly fine, and when she looked at the clock she was surprised to see that it wasn’t even 7 yet. For how good she felt she figured it was much later. She slowly got up and made her way to the bathroom to get changed and ready for the day. 

The burns that had covered her face the day before were gone, and so were the cuts and scratches that had covered her. Her hair even looked a little better than normal. It was less of a mess than normal and it even seemed like the auburn roots were peeking out a little further than they had the day before. 

She looked and felt better than she had in ages and had to wonder why Luz would help her like that. She hadn’t been particularly kind or helpful to the other girl, she had even been rather snappy. 

“Guess I’ll just have to be a bit nicer in future,” she sighed to herself, before remembering who she was.  _ Why should I care what she thinks of me? I don’t, right? Why do I care? Is it that smell or is it because she is genuinely nice. Or is it because she’s hot … bad brain! Don’t go there.  _

It was then that she realized she had a problem. A rather major problem. She liked Luz Noceda. The human who couldn’t even do magic. The human who saved her life last night. The human who made sure she was okay afterwards. 

_ Shit _ . 

_ What would my parents think of this? Probably something along the lines of, “These thoughts are unbecoming of a Blight. We only associate with the highest class. A human is not. Get these silly notions out of your head before we do for you.”  _ The voice in her head sounded so much like her mother that it made her cringe. 

It didn’t matter. Her parents were not here and couldn’t hurt her. At least not for a while. She finished getting herself ready for the day. She decided to make herself a little bit more presentable, so she went with one of her nicer outfits. A bright pink dress that went well with her hair, and for the first time in nearly 3 months she did her nails. With her nails a dark black she went out into the dorm room. 

She quickly gathered the things she would need for the day, and as she was picking up her books she felt another crinkle of paper. This time, it didn’t curl up and glow. It was just a normal note. But the contents of the note startled her. 

_ Amity,  _

_ I can tell that you are not the most open person, but you clearly need someone to talk to. Meet me out by where we killed the snake after the feast tonight. Just bring yourself. I’ll be there. _

_ -Luz _

She was not expecting anything like this from, let alone Luz. She decided that she would go, but she would keep an eye out for anything suspicious. The last thing she needed was to be injured or worse on the second day of school. The rest of her day went smoothly. Her abominations work went particularly well and she managed to get some work in with the teacher after the rest of her classes ended. He showed her a few new techniques to practice, though she was already well on the way to mastering one of them. 

After the feast she made her way out to the forest. She hadn’t seen Luz at dinner, so she assumed that Luz was already at the clearing. For once she didn’t feel a need to rush. She didn’t really care if she was late because there was no set time. That was odd for her. She was normally a stickler for time. Regardless, she made it to the clearing in good time, only to freeze when a magical sight met her eyes. 

* * *

Luz knew she had to do something. It didn’t seem like Amity was used to people helping her, and she definitely had trust issues. Luz could also tell that after the fight with the snake there was something seriously wrong with Amity. So she did what she always did. Went over the top. She managed to find a healing glyph in her book and put it on Amity’s bed, and then slipped the note into her bag, right on top of her books. She was impressed with the difficulty of the subjects Amity was taking, but that was a line of thought for another time. 

Right now, she had work to do. First and foremost she needed to transform the clearing before Amity got there. She decided that she would deal with it during the feast. She could grab a quick meal and then deal with it. She needed to sweep Amity off her feet. She had to break down those walls so that she could help. She saw too much of herself in Amity to stand by and do nothing. 

There were clear indications that she had been bullied and had resorted to violence to cope. It also seemed like she had family issues, but that could have just been Luz projecting. Luz knew her mom cared about her, but the thing with the camp had stuck with her. She knew her mom just wanted what was best for her and felt bad about it, but it was still hard to get over. Eda being there to save her from camp had been good, but if she hadn’t been there who knows what could have happened. 

She broke herself from the unproductive line of thought and started focusing back on the lesson at hand. They were learning about basic healing. She had figured it out a little and was waiting for the teacher to test her new changes to the glyphs. She would rather not hurt someone when trying to heal them. The first was supposed to be specifically for bad burns, the second for deep cuts, and the third was for poisoned wounds. The last one was specifically for school, seeing as she didn’t run into poison much outside of Hexside, and even there it was relatively scarce. Still, better safe than sorry. 

The teacher finished with her lecture and started making her way around the class to see if anyone needed help with something more specific. When she got to Luz, she seemed to relax a little, which was odd because most of her other teachers had the opposite reaction. She wasn’t going to question it. Maybe it was just because healing glyphs were already a somewhat researched topic. 

Regardless, the teacher looked over the glyphs and gave the go ahead for testing. There were always students in the healing wing in need of help, so the students got hands-on experience. The burn glyph was easily able to clear up a pretty serious burn, and the one for cuts was able to quickly handle a deep gash in another student’s arm. The teacher had wanted to supervise the poisoned cut glyph, so she waited for her to come over and give the go ahead. 

Unlike the other glyphs, this one glowed dark green before sputtering on and off. The teacher quickly ripped it off and checked the student for damage, but it seemed like the glyph had actually worked. Until the student’s arm exploded into a swarm of bees. At least it didn’t reopen the wound. The bees just seemed to fly out of their skin. 

The rest of the class was spent wrangling the bees and fixing the damage with the student. The teacher was actually not surprised by what happened, seeing as poison treatment had always been a difficult task, especially in glyph form. Overall, the class went well and so did the rest of her day. The instant the last class let out, she rushed down to the feast hall and grabbed some food, before rushing back off towards the forest. 

The first order of business was to close off the area. She raised some trees around the perimeter to make the clearing have only one entrance. That would help for later. She quickly pulled out a stack of ice glyphs and rammed them into the ground, which created large holes when she melted them with fire glyphs. She continued this process until a small cave had been formed. 

She filled the outside of the area with a large batch of multicolored flowers, and before she knew it the place had come to life. In the middle of the cave she set up a little campfire, and all around the edges were orbs of light. She quickly covered the cave floor in a cover of moss and finished setting up the atmosphere. When she looked up next it was at the beautiful time of night when all the colors of night begin to seep into the sky. She could see the beautiful purples and light pinks of the clouds against the quickly darkening sky. 

Before she got distracted again, she started her next task of setting up flower chairs within, because who doesn’t want to sit on a giant flower? She finished sprucing it up with a few flowers around the outside of the clearing when she heard footsteps. She quickly ducked into the cave, and when the footsteps stopped she heard a gasp. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, the next chapter should be out on Saturday. Thanks again for your support.

**Author's Note:**

> So what do you think of the set-up? Please leave me comments. I am lonely.


End file.
